Longest Q335 EVER - 201 cars, 11,000+ feet, 828 axles

[Saturnalia]

Ep. 426: CSX Landbarge! 201-car, 11,000+ foot Q335!

CSX's Q335 is a daily, Toledo, Ohio to Chicago, Illinois manifest freight, running via Grand Rapids, Michigan. This train is known to be a long one, but on February 8th, it went beyond even that!

In what is likely the longest non-coal train to ever ply the rails on the Plymouth Sub, this Q335 was two trains doubled up. It taped out at almost 12,000 feet, with 201 cars at 828 axles. It weighed around 11,000 tons.

We see them at Elmdale, where they met D707, and again at East Paris. The Michigan weather was nasty, with 30-mph winds and drizzle, which made any effort to keep the lens clean worthless.

The longest trains ever on the Plymouth Sub were slightly longer doubled-up coal empties in the 1970s, which would only have been a few cars longer than this landbarge!

CSX Q335 WB
Consist:
- BNSF 7133 [ES44C4]
- BNSF 8285 [ES44C4]
- CSX 8745 [SD60I]
- CSX 8139 [SD40-2]
- 201 cars [Mixed]
Location/Time:
- CSX Plymouth Sub, Elmdale, MI, Pratt Lake Rd xing, on 2-8-15 at 15:33 EST
- Kentwood, MI, East Paris Ave xing, at 16:00 EST
*Meets D707 @ Elmdale*

CSX D707 EB
Consist:
- CSX 4035 [SD40-3]
- 18 cars [Mixed]
Location/Time:
- CSX Plymouth Sub, Elmdale, MI, Pratt Lake Rd xing, on 2-8-15 at 15:31 EST
*Meets Q335 @ Elmdale*

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[AARR]

Must have been fun to watch in person even if its 15 degrees out

[BL2-1843]

Must have been fun to watch in person even if its 15 degrees out

Yes it was, but watched it from inside the house.

[Toppysager]

Wow! the longest manifest I have ever seen was Z247 in Toledo back in Sept 2013. It was 191 cars, and slow as can be. I have seen intermodals with as much as 215 cars, but that was six years ago. Great catch

[Jetlink]

Wow! the longest manifest I have ever seen was Z247 in Toledo back in Sept 2013. It was 191 cars, and slow as can be. I have seen intermodals with as much as 215 cars, but that was six years ago. Great catch

215 cars or individual wells? I once heard that there can be up to 5 individual wells in one car.

[Saturnalia]

Wow! the longest manifest I have ever seen was Z247 in Toledo back in Sept 2013. It was 191 cars, and slow as can be. I have seen intermodals with as much as 215 cars, but that was six years ago. Great catch

215 cars or individual wells? I once heard that there can be up to 5 individual wells in one car.

This is true. I for one, count each tub or flat as a "car" for logging purposes. To the RRs, the count as one connected car obviously.

[SousaKerry]

So does Q335 actually set put or pick up cars on it's way to Chicago? Otherwise I don't understand why it would not go south to the Willard sub in Fostoria or Deshler to Chicago. Seems like that would add quite a bit of extra mileage to go up to GR just to get to Chicago.

[rob]

So does Q335 actually set put or pick up cars on it's way to Chicago? Otherwise I don't understand why it would not go south to the Willard sub in Fostoria or Deshler to Chicago. Seems like that would add quite a bit of extra mileage to go up to GR just to get to Chicago.

Yes it add miles but by uesing Grand rapids crews to take to Chicago the train misses the B&O and the tracks around Barr yard . We take on the NS to the BRC . This leave room for all the intermodal trains.

Rob

[Saturnalia]

Well the train runs anyways, so they tacked on those cars. When they extended Q335, the cut the frequency of Q326/327 out the east end. That used to be 12 trains a week. With these changes, it is still only 13.

Again, leaves room on the B&O for practically nothing in new/increased costs.

[DelayInBlock]

Very nice video, Alex.

[Jetlink]

Wow! the longest manifest I have ever seen was Z247 in Toledo back in Sept 2013. It was 191 cars, and slow as can be. I have seen intermodals with as much as 215 cars, but that was six years ago. Great catch

215 cars or individual wells? I once heard that there can be up to 5 individual wells in one car.

This is true. I for one, count each tub or flat as a "car" for logging purposes. To the RRs, the count as one connected car obviously.

Are you sure?

viewtopic.php?f=26&t=28359&hilit=a+b+ca ... y&start=60

Start reading on page 2

[Saturnalia]

Yeah yeah... I remember that.

I get how they're counted by the RRs. But I'm still going to count each tub/platform as one for my logs. If you've got a problem with that, You run your logs the way you want to.

[Jetlink]

I'll admit it. I was just trolling. I don't keep logs.

I'm not a railfan.

[Saturnalia]

I'll admit it. I was just trolling. I don't keep logs.

I'm not a railfan.

That's dubious... We all know you keep a list on all trains who don't blowhorn!

[Toppysager]

I'll admit it. I was just trolling. I don't keep logs.

I'm not a railfan.

I count the inividuals wells so it's proportional to other types of trains/cars like tank cars, auto racks, and boxcars.

[SD80MAC]

By sending the Clearing traffic from Toledo to Chicago via, the train never has to touch the sacred B&O speedway: CSX via GR-NS to 509-BRC to Clearing. That was the main reason for the shift. None of it is super high priority plus CSX gets to make a few extra bucks off the extra miles.

[CSX_CO]

By sending the Clearing traffic from Toledo to Chicago via, the train never has to touch the sacred B&O speedway: CSX via GR-NS to 509-BRC to Clearing. That was the main reason for the shift. None of it is super high priority plus CSX gets to make a few extra bucks off the extra miles.

Actually, they don't make extra money. If the shipper is quoted to Chicago, the extra miles are on CSX, not the customer. Besides, empty return moves are free to the shipper anyway, so CSX moving the empties out of the way may be costing money.

Practice Safe CSX

[hoborich]

How long or heavy can a train be, before the couplers begin to fail?

[Bulby]

How long or heavy can a train be, before the couplers begin to fail?

Couplers fail, (well, the knuckle breaks) at around 225,000lbs of force. You can run really long and heavy trains as long as you have good train handling and enough horsepower in the right place (DPUs).

[Toppysager]

How busy is the Plymouth Sub nowadays?